Àngels Fitó-Bertran

The economy and society are experiencing significant transformations fueled by the emergence of new technological advancements. These changes are affecting not just the job market, but also social norms and interactions. In light of this, universities cannot confine themselves to the mere creation and dissemination of knowledge, as education alone does not assure employment prospects. Rather, universities must strive to enhance the transformative impact of education on both individuals' employability and organizations' competitiveness. To accomplish this objective, it is essential to leverage labor market insights and artificial intelligence technology. The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) is an online university that serves almost 90,000 students and has over 100,000 alumni. Its primary mission is to provide lifelong learning opportunities to people. However, due to the rapidly changing job market and evolving skill requirements, the UOC is currently implementing a university-wide strategy to prioritize employability. This strategy involves three main components. Firstly, the UOC is establishing a scheme to collect, store, generate, analyze, and present labor market data in a user-friendly manner that supports informed decision-making. This scheme will also connect educational programs to learning outcomes that can be linked to labor market information. Secondly, new organizational roles are being created to ensure that labor market information is integrated into the design of course offerings and career guidance services. Lastly, an interface is being designed for students to independently evaluate their position in the labor market and make better career decisions. This strategy builds on existing employability services and creates a foundation for relevant lifelong learning. The purpose of describing the UOC experience is to elucidate the strategy that universities should implement to enhance employability by capitalizing on the potential of artificial intelligence and big data.

Esta investigación presenta un modelo de análisis diseñado para detectar, organizar y clasificar la singularidad en la educación superior basado en estudios de futurización. Para ello, se recopilan evidencias con el fin de identificar rasgos diferenciales en el campo educativo, lo que permite a las universidades tomar decisiones estratégicas en entornos complejos. El estudio se fundamenta en técnicas de análisis respaldadas por investigaciones futurísticas para identificar tendencias y organizaciones innovadoras en diversos contextos educativos. Estas singularidades se clasifican y organizan mediante una propuesta metodológica mixta que combina investigación confirmatoria y la recopilación de datos cualitativos y cuantitativos. Los resultados del estudio proporcionan una visión de 55 organizaciones de educación superior con características singulares, destacando aspectos importantes de cada una de ellas. Además, se valida la utilidad del instrumento desarrollado como una herramienta crucial que permite a las universidades revisar y adaptar constantemente sus prácticas educativas, manteniéndolas actualizadas y respondiendo a los avances sociales y tecnológicos en un mundo en constante cambio. Asimismo, la investigación busca fomentar un debate sobre el papel futuro de las universidades como actores en una sociedad dinámica, compleja e incierta. Esto resalta la importancia de que las universidades estén preparadas para enfrentar los desafíos y aprovechar las oportunidades que surgen en este contexto cambiante.

The digitalization and globalization of society and the corresponding impact on the rules of the labor market is shifting the education sector toward new pedagogical approaches that integrate wholly online methodologies. Sustainable Development Goal 4 advocates for inclusive and equitable quality education that promotes lifelong learning opportunities, and, as we have seen during the COVID-19 lockdown, online learning can play a key role. In a context where lifelong learning becomes crucial to maintaining graduates’ employability, the innovative teaching methodologies that promote employable competencies in online environments are especially desirable. With the purpose of improving the employability of students, this article analyses the impact of introducing the Authentic Learning Scenarios (ALS) paradigm in an online environment. We develop a quasi-experimental design. Based on the nine ALS criteria and their application to e-learning, we redesign a course in a business degree program. Data from 135 students were collected, with special focus on achieving general competences. We compare the perception of the competency profile attained between a group of students who took the course before incorporating the ALS paradigm and another group that took it once it had been redesigned. Results show that redesigning the course enables students to perceive the learning process as more authentic, as well as acquiring a more advanced competence profile. Besides this, it has been shown that technology can contribute to building cognitive authenticity in virtual classrooms, without the need for face-to-face internships, which are often not a feasible option for students of online programs.

Education for employability is one of the greatest challenge for Higher education institutions in Europe, but especially in Spain. The European Higher Education Area assumes that competence development becomes crucial to connect higher education curricula with evolving labour market demands. The Authentic Learning Scenarios foster the competence development bringing work experience to the formal learning. Considering that online learning methodologies seems to have a relevant role into a life long learning perspective to achieve authentic learning environments is a singular challenge. We have introduced the authentic learnig scenarios attributes into a specific subject and we have tested its impact on students competence profile. Apart from testing if the new subject design is effectively atuthentic, the findings show that when the learning process includes authenticity the students perception about their perfomance in the competence more relevant for the job market improves.

Compliance is one of the big challenges in the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) implementation process. Additionally, the current debate on the operating leases accounting treatment is more in force than ever due to the recent support shown by the European Commission to companies lobbying against the proposal. In this article, we analyse and compare the level and evolution of compliance of UK and Spanish companies regarding mandated operating lease disclosures for the period of 2005–2011. Additionally, we look for determinants of compliance. Our results show a significant higher level of disclosure for UK compared with Spain and a positive trend in both countries towards full compliance. As for the determinants of compliance, media coverage and industry are found to be significant. The transparency needed in the markets demands high quality financial reporting and compliance commitment and, in this sense, we seem to be on the right track.